Support for minister’s call to review Act

 THE Communal Land Development Ltd has supported the called by Petroleum and Energy Minister Nixon Duban to have the current Oil and Gas Act reviewed. 

Director general Dr Onne Rageau said the review should give more recognition to the customary land law of PNG.

Duban, during a media conference recently, said he had directed that the Act be reviewed.

Rageau said: “We are in full support of the minister’s call to review the Oil and Gas Act because project developments are taking place on the customary land … and the Act needs to consider the interest of the customary land owners as well.

“When PNG gained its independence, the land was sort of developed using foreign laws,” he said. When we look into the experience of the last forty years, in 2007, we found out that there was this customary law, related to customary land, that many of our leaders were ignorant or by-passing it. 

“As Communal Land Development, we are supporting the move by the minister on the Oil and Gas Act to be reviewed but our traditional landowners should be taken into consideration.

“We’d like to see that the majority of the people should be facilitated in that arrangement so that benefits of those resources will go a long way in terms of helping them in their education, improve their livelihood.”

Communal Land Development Ltd was incorporated through the Investment Promotion Authority on Dec 11, 2007. 

The company’s vision was to promote small and medium  enterprises and corporative societies.